Spirited Away: A New Begining
by Into The Wyld Wood
Summary: What has happened since Chihiro left the spirit world? When her daughter Hitomi feels it calling her Chihiro knows she must let her only daughter go and discover for herself what has been going on. Will Hitomi be able to stand up to all the danger?
1. Nighttime Coming

Chapter 1: Night-time Coming 

The wind rustled through the branches and blew stray leaves across the dirt ground. Hitomi shivered but not with cold, she shivered because of the intense energy in the air and she was sure that if she could see spirits as her mother could she would see a lightning spirit charging the wind with little electric shocks. But that is not the reason she was here, the reason she was here seemed crazy to even her now that she had time to consider her actions.

Her whole life she had lived in the little blue house on the end of the row, on top of their hill. At first glance it might seem neat and it was, mostly. The only non-immaculate place in the entire house was her bedroom, every inch of discernable space was covered by books, and there were even books stacked in her bathroom sink. Mostly they were books her mom had given her on legends, myths, spirits and folklore. But the most interesting story she had ever heard was told to her by her own mother. Her mother had been the one to first take her down to the shrines, she didn't quite know what it was about them but they held her imagination more than any book, maybe because they were so close to home.

She could remember the very first time her mother had ever brought her down to the old road. She had been very small and yet she could still recall the day with perfect clarity. Her mother had told her about the shrines at the side of the road. She had told her little spirits lived there and she should always show respect for them. So now every morning when she slid down the hill to where the cement ended and the dirt path began she always took a moment to give a little bow to the shrines.

That's what she was doing now, in the middle of a warm summer night. She straightened up and looked down the forested tunnel. It looked as if it hadn't been used in a long time. When her mother had taken her to see the shrines she had warned her never to go down that path, and when Hitomi had asked why, her mother got a very far away look in her eyes and just said, because it would be very hard to come back. On a whim she had asked if that's where her dad came from. She didn't know why she asked but her mother had only smiled and said yes. They spoke no more of what was down that path, only of the border shrines, as if even talk of the tunnel was taboo. Hitomi felt this was more her father's decision that her mother's.

She had, had a strange dream tonight, that's what had brought about her unreasonable actions she reasoned.

Her dream had consisted of herself at the beginning of the tunnel watching as a light bobbed forward towards her. It didn't get close enough for her to see it clearly but it looked a little like a lamp post. It had stood just in shadow, it seemed to be waiting. The wind swept in from behind her as it were egging her on or pushing her in. The flame inside the lamp flickered and went out and she was plunged into darkness. Then she woke up. She threw off the covers grabbed the flashlight on her bedside stand, slid on her shoes and scrambled out of the hose as fast and as quietly as she could and slid down the hill and arrived breathlessly in front of the tunnel.

That's where she stood now, unable to move forward, afraid to disobey her parents and unable to go back to sleep plagued by curiosity. She sighed and slid down against the trunk of the ancient oak the first tree on the dark path, the one closest to the shrines. She looked down at them and closed her eyes. _**Hey spirits. I've been coming here for my whole life. Is there anything you can tell me about what to do in a situation like this?**_There was no answer from anywhere. _**Didn't think so.**_In reality she was a little put out that that they didn't answer, but they were spirits and her mother had told her they didn't bother with many humans. Now that she thought about it, why would her mom know that? Her brow furrowed and she rubbed her head. There was too much going on inside it.

She finally pushed herself to her feet, teetering for a moment. She stared down the pathway in vain, searching for something that simply wasn't there. She turned to go back home, but felt an odd prickling on the back of her neck, as if she were being watched. She switched her flashlight on and spun around trying to seem exasperated, but her insides were as jumpy as a Bulgarian tree frog on caffeine. She moved it back and forth across the path illuminating only dirt and stone. She switched it off, turned around, and froze.

Her heart pounded in her ears and she slowly faced the forest. In the distance she could make out a tiny pinprick of light, it was bobbing up and down, and for the second time that night she was paralyzed with indecision. Did she run after it or away from it? She caught a flicker of movement in the corner of her right eye and she saw the lights in her house had gone on. Without another thought she dropped her flashlight and ran as fast as she could up the slope and towards home. She stumbled only once and got her knee grass stained. She made to the back yard with her lungs burning and her heart racing. She collapsed onto her knees breathing heavily until she felt another stare prickle the hairs on the back of her neck. She looked up to see her mother standing in the doorway, a grim look on her face. Hitomi cringed; she was definitely in trouble now.


	2. A Calling

AN-Umm...not quite sure what I'm suposed to say but I don't own Spirited Away as much as it pains me to say. However I do own the originol characters you will run across in this series. Be good and R&R and maybe I'll throw in a little bit of in interview with some of the characters you request. Constructive criticism is welcomed.

Chapter 2: A Calling

Her mother signalled for her to come in the house and Hitomi tottered over. She could feel her mother's quick eyes scan over her. "You were down at the shrines weren't you?" she asked quietly. Hitomi just nodded, her reasons for going seemed so silly; and then she remembered the light and tried to dismiss it from her mind as nothing more than an optical illusion caused by her weariness and flashlight. Her mother led her into the house and up the stairs to the bathroom, where she had Hitomi sit on the bathtub rim. She wetted a wash cloth and rubbed her face so it was free of dirt. "So why were you down there at this time of night?"Her mother sounded more curious than angry so Hitomi decided on the truth rather than a lie.

"I had a dream about the tunnel and for some reason I just had to go down to see it," she said keeping the details vague as possible. "I don't even know why, I'm sorry"

"You shouldn't be apologising for a reason like that" She looked up at her mother, startled. "Your heart and subconscious obviously know something you don't," her mother pushed herself up. "Late afternoon you can still see everything, I like it better than night." Her mother stretched and walked out of the bathroom. That was odd. She went back to her room and didn't go back to sleep, instead she stayed up and wrote down everything that had happened to her and all her questions in her diary. It was a dark blue book with silver metal edge plated on the corners and her name was printed in script indented letters on the front. The sun came up in a few hours and Hitomi, who had never been one for sleeping, got up. It was still dark so she reached for her flashlight but realized that she had forgotten it back at the tunnel. She sighed, she was still too scared to go back and get it. She stumbled downstairs and hit the landing with a resounding "thud". She cringed, partly hoping the noise hadn't woken her parents and partly in pain, she had landed on her heals. She sat on the bottom stair and rubbed them for a moment. In the quiet of the house she could here a soft knocking, on the front door she reasoned. She got up, _**Who in there right mind would be coming up to the house this early on a Sunday?**_ She came into the front hall and stopped dead in her tracks. Through the frosted window pane she could see a bobbing light. She fell down "Impossible," she whispered. She rubbed her eyes and the light was gone. She crawled cautiously over to the door and peered out the mail slot, there was nothing there, but wait! Sitting on her doorstep was her flashlight. Slowly she got up and twisted the door handle. A warm morning breeze hit her promising a hot day, she stooped and picked up the plastic flashlight, and stared down the hill in wonder. She allowed a small smile to come to her face, and whispered a small "Thank you."

"Hitomi? What are you doing with the front door open?" She turned to see her father standing there his dark emerald eyes questioning.

"Nothing dad, sorry, the house was stuffy and I needed some air."

He just nodded and turned to the kitchen where he began to make his morning coffee. Her mother came down the stairs a few moments later with a smile on her face. Her mom had always been a morning person, just like herself but her father even more so. He was usually up way before Hitomi on school days and she got up at five o'clock in the morning. Her mom came over and hugged her, "Morning Hitomi!" she said, even her voice seemed to be smiling.

"Morning mom," she said.

"What am I, chopped liver?" Her dad complained from the kitchen, they both laughed and Hitomi's mom walked over and gave him a peck on the cheek. He laughed, and Hitomi laughed at him for laughing. She ate breakfast in comfortable silence for a while, until her dad came back down stairs dressed in his office clothes. Both Hitomi and her mom groaned. "Sorry guys but I really do have to be at the office today, I have a load of paper work I have to finish, and Doug will have my tail if it isn't done by today.

"What are we? Chopped liver?" Mom asked teasingly. She seemed to pull a lunch from nowhere and handed it to him. "Have a good day honey," she said kindly and he left.

Hitomi spent most of the day just bumming around in her room, there was no one she really wanted to hang out with, and she really doubted anyone wanted to hang out with her. This was her life's only major problem; because she read so much she really didn't have any really close friends. She just kind of hung out with whoever was there, and because she knew very little about a lot of people at her high school. They all seemed to know her and most times a person she didn't even recognize called out to her in the hall way. She picked up a folk lore book and skimmed through it but nothing really caught her attention, she couldn't sink into the book the way she would have liked to, and that made her restless. She knew her mind was elsewhere but she refused to admit to herself where. She didn't want to think about it but there it was staring her in the face. Literally, she was looking out her front window down the slope towards the bottom of the hill. She could still feel it in the pit of her stomach, something was calling her; it scared her and made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. She shivered, closed the blinds and turned to her book case again to find her mother standing in the doorway, looking a little sad. "What's up?" Her mom asked a little lamely. Hitomi hadn't even heard her mother come in. Her mother went to the blinds and lifted them to look down at the path. "Sometimes it's scary when you don't understand why you feel a certain way," her mother said suddenly without looking at her. "Sometimes the reason you don't understand is because your mind hasn't figured out what your heart already knows," she faced Hitomi, and locked eyes. Her mother wasn't usually this secretive, so Hitomi was kind of freaked out, "Do you understand?" her mom asked.

"No," Hitomi replied bluntly. Her mom laughed, and grabbed Hitomi's backpack from its place on the floor and carefully removed the regular contents, school books and such and placed them on the desk. Hitomi looked at her mother curiously, and her mother beckoned for Hitomi to follow her. She walked to the kitchen, where her mom was packing odd assorted things. She pulled a piece of paper from the pile of stuff on the edge of the counter and scribbled hurriedly on it. She finished with that and pulled a black string bag from a high cupboard.

"Roasted newts," she informed Hitomi at her confused look, "Some people like them you know." Hitomi looked disgusted but her mother didn't seem to notice and kept pulling things down. Lastly she pulled out another small sheet of paper and Hitomi saw her write her own name on it. Hitomi thought this was weird but thought no more of it and her mom packed everything inside and tied it closed with a perfect bow.

"There are a lot of things you don't know about this family, and that tunnel is the perfect place to start finding out who you really are, I know it helped me out lots when I was your age."

"Mom?" Hitomi looked curiously at her mother and in her eyes found a deep tiredness and sadness. She also found an understanding. Her mother knew what it felt like to be called to this place. She knew that she had to go as much as her mother wanted to protect her from whatever was down that darkened path.

Her mom sighed. "Come on sweetie, I'll walk you."

In heat of the afternoon Hitomi and her mother slid down the hill both laughing like children. It didn't cover up the tension they both felt and Hitomi knew she was close to tears. She took a deep breath at the beginning of the tunnel, now that she was here she felt as if she were defying some ancient rule. Her mother too seemed to be having trouble setting foot inside this sacred realm that was practically their front yard. They both bowed to the little shrines at the side of the path, "Please excuse us for trespassing on your grounds spirits, but my daughter has business in your domain and I wish to see her off." They set foot inside and Hitomi felt her insides go cold. Despite how alive this section of the forest felt in another way it felt completely desolate and barren of life. She felt like weeping for the forest itself. "It didn't feel like this last time," her mom whispered. "I thought there was something wrong with this place, now I'm sure."

The continued for another five minuets or so, walking and in Hitomi's case, stumbling over tree roots that had invaded the path upsetting cobblestones laid down in the times of long ago. In the forest all around her she noticed stone statues. Little domes of rock with jolly wide faces but Hitomi had the impression if theses stone spirits could see their forest now the smile would slip from their faces and little sand tears would trickle from the corners of their eyes.

Just ahead of them Hitomi could see a definite ark, not just the forests natural ark, this one was man made. As they approached the arch became more defined and Hitomi could see that there used to be a building there, now it was overrun with vines and roots. She could still see that there had once been a neon sign announcing whatever this place was. In front was another one of those weird smiling stones. Its face was a double, the same on either side and for some reason Hitomi had the distinct impression it was staring at her. She gave a quick little bow and returned her thoughts to her mother. Her hands were clasped in tight fists at her sides and she looked very tense.

"This is it Hitomi. This is where you must go on by yourself on your own two feet. I can go no further than this." Her mother's words sounded more like she was convincing herself than telling Hitomi something. Hitomi nodded and gave her mom one last hug. She tensed for a moment, did she really wan to go to who knows where? Obviously her mother thought it would be good for her but then again her mother never struck her as normal. She squared her shoulders, this was no time to back down, her mother had done the very same thing and she had come out alright. Before she could think any more Hitomi tore off into the dark tunnel not daring to slow down because if she did she knew she would go back to her mother. She stumbled on some uneven stones but caught herself. She kept running only mildly aware of the stinging pain in her palm and wrist. She didn't know where she was going or why for that matter but she knew now that she had taken those first steps, there was no turning back.

Chihiro smiled to herself as she watched the dark silhouette of her daughter stumble in the darkness and then disappear from her sight altogether. She was klutz. "Kohaku, you can come out now," she called into the darkness. For a moment there was nothing but a stir of wind and then from the shadows came Kohaku. He came over to her and gave her shoulder a squeeze. "Will she be alright?"

"If she's anything like her mother she will be fine," he consoled her. Chihiro took a deep breath and she and Kohaku turned from the darkened tunnel and walked back down the wooded path.

The stone statue was left looking after the girl it blinked once, "Good luck kid." After that silence filled the air as if even the wind was afraid to blow and disturb something it should not. There was no bird song and the crickets made no noise in the tall grass in the side of the road. Overhead through the canopy of leaves the moon had just started to rise and nothing dared break the silence.


	3. City Full of Shadows

Chapter 3: City Full of Shadows. 

Hitomi came out of the tunnel abruptly. She found herself in a room that resembled a cross between a train station and a church. There were small circular stein glass windows divided into quarters of red blue green and yellow. The moon's light was cast through them creating small pools of colour on the floor. Near the center a fountain dripped onto the floor creating a puddle. She felt off somehow; like she wasn't supposed to be here and yet as if she belonged at the same time. Tow instincts doing battle in her mind, one pleading with her to run from this place and don't look back and the other welcoming her home. She had the strangest impression that her body was made of both jelly and lead at the same time. There were three tunnels ahead of her and she looked at them each carefully. Through the middle one she felt a breeze, cold but defiantly outside. The other two seemed to be nothing more than passages leading deeper into this building. She needed outside she decided and wandered through the middle one.

What she saw was incredible. A harbour met her eyes, well lit by strands of Chinese lanterns and funny looking Christmas lights. There were strange looking shops and even stranger restaurants. Boats were docked at the edge of a small lake, boarding...what were they? She did a double take. Masks were getting on the boats in single file lines, floating in the air of their own accord. She breathed deeply. _**Spirits**_. Now that she looked around she saw more shadows, all wandering the pier or running stalls. They looked like shadows standing upright with lights for eyes. Another deep breath. The spirits all seemed to be boarding the ferries, they were going somewhere. She had to follow them, her heart knew that, or the side that called this place home did. The other seemed to think it as crazy and was muttering to itself. She breathed and took a step towards the loading boat, then another. _**Just put one foot in front of the other**_, she sang in her head. She came to the line of boarding spirits and stopped. It took a moment but the line stopped as well. One mask looked at her. She bowed deeply and slowly.

"Please excuse me honourable spirit, would you allow me to ride this ferry across the lake?"

It took a moment and Hitomi kept her face void of emotion. The mask bobbed its approval and she boarded in front of it. She was on and she stood to the side not blocking the path keeping her head respectfully bowed. The mask that had acknowledged her came up behind. It nodded again and a compartment door opened. She had been fully intending to ride outside but it seemed that it was offering a place to sit. She bowed her head and walked inside. She sat on the opposite side careful not to disturb her host, after all she had no idea if the mask was all he was, he could have another form a lot bigger and she didn't want to offend him by being in the way. It was silent the whole way across and she was grateful, she had a feeling she would have no idea what to say if a spirit talked to her or asked even a simple question. Her mind was franticly running over all the rules her mom had ever mentioned about dealing with spirits.

She felt the boat bump against the opposing dock and she jumped in spite of herself. The door swung open and the mask rose. She exited behind it, in line with the rest of the spirits.

As they exited she was amazed to find they gained bodies that she could see as if someone was dousing them with paint. They were approaching another section of what looked like a town and a feeling of unease grew even in the heart that was home. She stepped out of line and her spirit host followed her.

She faced him and bowed again, "Thank you most honourable one. I will never forget the kindness you showed me just now, and I regret having to leave you now and do not wish to seem ungrateful but I must go my own way." She bowed once more and the newly formed spirit held out its sleeve. She looked curiously at it before extending her hands to take what it wanted to give her. It dropped a little brown pouch in her hands and bowed back. Curious but still wary she bowed once more, turned and hiked up the grass hill that lay before her close but not quite next to the stone path the spirits followed. She came to the top and found a town not unlike the one on the other side of the lake but bigger and full of even more shadow like creatures. Some of them stared at her and she made a quick bow before turning and running to the edge of the town and skirting it trying to find a place to hide.

This was too much, her mother had been here? Seen theses things? She couldn't believe it. If she had her mother had knowingly and willingly sent her here to this city of shadows and now what did she expect Hitomi to do? Was she supposed to walk up and ask a shadow what she should do next? I think not. Through the darkness of her vision she heard a commotion from far off, too far to worry about but the wind carried a distinct word to her ears, human.

She gulped and opened her eyes, apparently humans were an odd occurrence here, she should have guessed that much, spirits weren't exactly common in her world so she should have assumed that the visa versa applied here. Now she was scared, cold, hungry, alone, and in trouble most likely. She cried a bit and whipped her eyes on the hem of her shirt and decided it wasn't too bad. She got up; she'd just have to be sneaky.

She tried to make her legs move accordingly but they seemed to have a mind of their own and were furiously battling her mind to just collapse on her. _Oh no you don't! I said move legs! So move!_ That seemed to help a bit and they moved more willingly, but still felt like they were jell. She edged along the building trying not to make a sound when suddenly something came tearing around the corner and moved right past her. She caught her breath, she had almost been seen. The shadow had stopped a little ways up and was looking around. It turned and she saw a figure taller than herself by maybe half a head. He looked more solid than the other shadows and she wondered if her finger would go through if she poked it. They both stood for a moment staring, or she assumed, staring at each other. There came a clamour from above and their stalemate was broken. It shot forward and knocked her to the ground stifling her. She tried to scream as was her instinct but something like cotton was shoved in her mouth and she nearly gagged.

"You will shut up and be still if you want to live," warned the shadow in a boys voice that did not seem ominous despite his words and the situation.

She was near tears she was so scared and her heart beet faster than she could ever remember. What was he going to do to her? She knew what happened to girls sometimes in her world but did it happen here too?

They lay in silence for what seemed like forever. He didn't seem like a shadow; she could feel his heart beet and the warmth coming from him; no this kid was alive and kicking.

"I think they're gone." He got up off her and brushed himself off. Apparently the thing she had gagged on was his long sleeve. He stared at it with disdain before she saw his hand glow red in the dark and her grabbed the corner; there was a smell of burning cloth and he let go to reveal that part of his sleeve had been burnt off. He muttered, "Yubaba is going to be a little pissed that I wrecked another uniform, stupid human."

In the moonlight, which she found to be unusually bright, she could see her assailant. He had longish dark red hair he kept back in a small ponytail and is skin was pale so it reflected the light of the moon. She had assumed right that he was a little taller than her, and he wore what looked like an outfit from a history book. It was mostly red with black pants. The shirt fell below his waist and was tied with a white band to keep it from fluttering. The sleeves hung to his elbows and were lose. At the shoulders they connected at the bottom and not the top so she could see the black undershirt he wore. It gave her the impression he had been in a clean fight and gotten his shirt cut at the shoulders. His pants hung to his knees and were also loose and cut off at the knees. He wore no shoes so his feet that were pale like the rest of him were dark because of the dirt.

His nostrils flared and he wrinkled his nose, "God! I've got your stench all over me!"

He was not a spirit and he had not done anything but tackled her to the ground and told her she stunk, she felt no need to be polite to him. "For your big fat information I took a bath just yesterday! So I most certainly do n-"

He threw her to the ground again, "Keep your voice down!" he hissed.

"Why should I?" She hissed back.

"Want to be killed?" She just glared at him, he smirked, "that's what I thought. Now when I get up your going to keep quiet and you'll follow my directions to a tee if you want to live."


End file.
